Teacher Blog

Hello from Ho Chi Minh City

Three days ago I celebrated my 2^nd year anniversary in Vietnam. It was two years of fun and among the best years of my career life as ELT practitioner.

My name is JC, not from King Juan Carlos of Spain, just JC. I grew up in the Philippines and spent 26 years of adventure with my dad, a clergy and English major. I’ve probably inherited this nomadic attitude from him as I enjoyed the times we moved from one parish to another but that was not the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. I moved with my wife and two kids to Vietnam two years ago. I had a thriving school business back home then but with this undying hunger for adventure, I came to Vietnam and got a job on my seventh day of stay in Saigon.

I had taught English for 6 years before I came to Saigon and gained good qualifications that’s why I think it was easy for me to get a decent teaching job. My wife, too, who’d been here to do her CELTA had been helpful in my job search as she’d worked for a month before going back to the Philippines and convince me that there was a great adventure here.. Back then I thought that I was totally ready for the job so when I taught my first class, I was very confident using my tried-and-tested techniques. Unfortunately, I was wrong! I struggled and my lesson dragged like a slow motion movie scene. That’s when I thought there’s much to learn otherwise I’d wear out pretty soon. Point one, I’d overlooked the fact that ESL and EFL are two different worlds. Point two, teaching young learners whose chance to use English is only in your class, is not the easiest thing to do. So I decided to read, attend workshops and most importantly, refer my lesson plans to my wife- the CELTA-trained teacher.

Days turned weeks and weeks turned months, I would still come home worn out and exhausted. That’s when I decided to do the CELTA. Although I’d known it was going to help me with this new adventure but I selfishly spent my teaching dollars on my travels, dining out and shopping instead of banking them for the training. So last August, I took a leave from work (at daytime) then took the plunge. Doing the CELTA was the real adventure, I thought on my first day in the course. That was the most rigid training I’d had in my life! Working in the evenings at the same time surely didn’t help. So on my third week I quit the nightly shift and just be kind to myself. I got a pass A and the next thing I know, I got a post at Apollo already.

I’ll give you updates about my teaching, traveling and dining adventures next month!